Week 11 N.F.L. Quick Hits: Payton’s Faith in Saints’ Defense

The most telling tidbit from this game was Sean Payton’s timeout call with 2 minutes 11 seconds left and his team about to attempt a game-tying field goal. The decision seemed bizarre at first. The Saints’ timeout would essentially make the two-minute warning an extra timeout for the 49ers, who were about to pursue a tiebreaking drive with just one timeout in their pocket.

The Fox broadcaster Joe Buck said Payton was trying to make a shorter commercial break for the embattled kicker Garrett Hartley. That’s incorrect. If Payton had been thinking about Hartley’s psyche, he would have called the timeout a few seconds before the two-minute warning, giving his kicker the shorter break but not giving the Niners a free timeout.

Most likely, Payton wanted to give the Niners the extra timeout. Or, more accurately, he wanted to give his defense the extra timeout. Payton believed his swarming defense could force Colin Kaepernick and the Niners into a three-and-out, setting up a possible game-winning drive for New Orleans’s offense.

Payton knew that up to that point, most of Kaepernick’s success (which wasn’t abundant) had come off deceptive run looks like play-action or rolled pockets. Those tactics would not be in play on a two-minute drive. Payton showed immense faith in his defense — something no one would have imagined coming into this season.

Hartley made his field goal, and the defense rewarded Payton’s faith. On the first play of San Francisco’s attempted game-tying drive, edge-rusher Junior Galette sacked Kaepernick off an inside stunt. Payton called timeout with 2:01 left. On the next play, the Saints nearly forced Kaepernick into an intentional grounding in the end zone. On third-and-19, they forced Kaepernick to scramble, which he did, out of bounds.

And that’s how Payton and his increasingly impressive defense set up Drew Brees to go 46 yards in 1:48 for his 22nd career fourth-quarter comeback and 33rd game-winning drive.

Giants 27, Packers 13

Wins are never easy to come by in the N.F.L., especially when you’re talking about four in a row. But the closest they can be to “easy” are when facing a backup quarterback. Or better yet, a third-string quarterback. That’s what the Giants have done throughout most of their current streak. They just beat Green Bay’s Scott Tolzien. Before that, they beat Terrelle Pryor (not a backup, yet). Before that, Matt Barkley. Before him, Josh Freeman, who has since become Minnesota’s emergency QB. Again, wins are wins. But let’s see if the Giants, who have not looked great on film during this stretch, can get a win against a bona fide starting quarterback.

Dolphins 20, Chargers 16

The Dolphins got their first victory since the unspeakably distracting Martin-Incognito story grew legs earlier this month. They can thank tight end Charles Clay. The versatile third-year pro caught six balls for 90 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter that proved to be the difference. Now, if Clay could somehow make the league investigator Ted Wells go away, this team would be primed for a postseason run.

Seahawks 41, Vikings 20

This one had to be extra painful for the Vikings, not because they saw their former star-turned-malcontent Percy Harvin return a kick 58 yards against them in his Seahawks debut. And not because the loss mathematically ended the Vikings’ increasingly slim chances at a winning season. This one must have felt especially raw because it came against the Seahawks, a team that is everything the Vikings want to be. Seattle’s offense is run-based, featuring a dynamic, grinding tailback. It also has a young, mobile quarterback with playmaking prowess. The Seahawks’ defense is a 4-3 that can get consistent pressure from a four-man rush. The Vikings subscribe to this same formula; on Sunday, they finally got to see it work.

Steelers 37, Lions 27

Games like this are what football nerds live for. We can’t wait for Tuesday when the All-22 film comes out. We want to see every coverage adjustment Pittsburgh made in the second half. Maybe then this game will make sense. Right now, it doesn’t. Matthew Stafford was 6 of 10 for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns when targeting Calvin Johnson in the first half. Many of those completions were the product of great play designs that got Johnson matched one-on-one against Ike Taylor, who is as solid a veteran corner as you’ll find. The Lions in the second half moved Johnson all over in a variety of formations, just as they did in the first half. But Stafford targeted Johnson only three times. None of the three were caught, unless you count the deep interception by Will Allen. What changed??

Bills 37, Jets 14

Most will look at the empty part of this game’s glass and talk about Geno Smith, who continued to carry the Jets on a roller coaster of alternating wins and losses. But what about the full part of the glass? This game’s other rookie quarterback was sensational. Playing without starting wide receivers Stevie Johnson and Robert Woods, Buffalo’s EJ Manuel completed 20 of 28 throws with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Both touchdowns came against Jets blitzes, which Manuel faced nine times and amassed 111 yards against.

Bears 23, Ravens 20 (OT)

No two stars have dropped off as drastically this season as Ravens running back Ray Rice and Bears defensive end Julius Peppers. Entering Week 11, Rice had rushed for 289 yards (36.1 per game). Peppers had two sacks and all of 10 tackles. The commentary here in Quick Hits has been critical of both guys’ failures; it’s only right that it now highlights their success. Rice turned things around early on Sunday, going 47 yards on his first carry. He finished with 131 yards and a touchdown. Peppers had two sacks, two additional tackles-for-loss and a team-high 11 stops, doubling his tackle total on the season. Oh, lastly, you may have heard there was a weather delay in the second quarter. So, if we’re to pile on the praise, Rice and Peppers also overcame Mother Nature.

For a third straight game, the Bengals sputtered offensively. They were 1 of 14 on third down; they averaged 3.8 yards per play; they netted 118 yards passing, 25 of which came from wideout Mohamed Sanu. Andy Dalton completed less than 50 percent of his attempts. Fortunately for Marvin Lewis’s club, there were big plays that went their way. Special teamer Tony Dye returned a blocked punt for a touchdown late in the second quarter. Less than two game minutes later, linebacker Vontaze Burfict returned a fumble 13 yards for a score. Earlier in the game, linebacker James Harrison had a pick-six, but the return was brought back by an illegal block. That play, however, still set up a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham.

This nugget from ESPN Stats & Information tells you everything about this game, about the Redskins’ season and maybe even about the franchise’s long-term outlook: “Robert Griffin III was 12-of-27 for 135 yards and four sacks inside the pocket Sunday. Griffin threw both of his touchdowns and wasn’t sacked on 12 dropbacks outside the pocket.”

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

The Falcons had three turnovers, including a pick-six to linebacker Mason Foster. That was all it took.

The game was in garbage time less than two hours after opening kickoff. (Though some would argue that, with the participants coming in at a combined 3-15, the game was actually in garbage time upon opening kickoff.) Maybe the Falcons would have done better on offense if they could have faced their own defense. That unit gave up 20 completions on Mike Glennon’s 23 pass attempts and 163 yards on the undrafted journeyman Bobby Rainey’s 30 rushing attempts.

Cardinals 27, Jaguars 14

The Cardinals are suddenly 6-4, but it’s a little hard to overlook the fact that they did absolutely nothing on the ground against the league’s worst-ranked rush defense. Neither team ran the ball, actually. To illustrate, let’s play a game: match the number with the correct statistical category.

Statistical category

1. Cardinals rushing attempts

2. Cardinals rushing yards

3. Jaguars rushing attempts

4. Jaguars rushing yards

Number

A. 32

B. 14

C. 16

D. 24

Answers: 1 = D. 2 = B. 3 = C. 4 = A.

Raiders 28, Texans 23

The Case Keenum experience was fun while it lasted. Which, as it turns out, appears to have been four games. The undrafted second-year quarterback was benched in the second half after opening it with three straight three-and-outs. Keenum was replaced by the quarterback whom he had replaced, Matt Schaub, which pretty much explains why the Texans have lost their last eight games.

Keenum’s numbers weren’t awful, but in recent weeks he has shown a tendency to abandon the play designs and unnecessarily go into sandlot mode. Coaches are O.K. with that until it stops working. Then they hate seeing their meticulously crafted plays be mangled.

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who inexplicably root hard for undrafted long-shot quarterbacks, you might be able to just shift the energy you were investing on Keenum over to Raiders rookie Matt McGloin. Filling in for an injured Terrelle Pryor, the former Penn State Nittany Lion completed 18 of 32 passes for a respectable 197 yards, with three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Broncos 27, Chiefs 17

One of the most anticipated regular-season games in recent memory lived up to expectations. The best part about Broncos-Chiefs is that both defenses predominantly play man coverage, which means the matchup comes down to simple execution. Sunday night, Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ receivers did just enough to out-execute a very stingy Chiefs secondary. And let’s give credit to the other side, too.

Denver’s defense was rock solid on the back end, while the front four did not get a ton of pressure on Alex Smith but did manage to rattle his pocket just enough. The only negative with this game was that, because of all the personal battles, there were a lot of opportunities for penalties. The officials took advantage of those opportunities, throwing nine accepted flags on the Chiefs and 13 on the Broncos. Factor in a few challenge plays and injuries and you had a good game that officially lasted way too long.